Sprint moves to block AT&T T-Mobile merger

The US government has already made its move to oppose the takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T, because they think it would “substantially lessen competition”. Now we can tell you that Sprint also moves to block AT&T T-Mobile merger.

The carrier decided to use the DOJ lawsuit to start proceedings of its own by suing both AT&T and T-Mobile according to an article on Electronista. The lawsuit in question accuses the two carriers of violating section seven of the Clayton Antitrust Act. It says the merger would “entrench the duopoly control” of AT&T and Verizon according to Sprint, and give the carriers more than three quarters of the mobile market.

Other arguments used by Sprint included the feeling that the deal would let AT&T put pressure on its network, and could discourage device deals with the smaller carriers. Sprint also feels prices to the consumers would go up despite claims they would come down by others.

AT&T has refuted such accusations and tried to give positive outcomes if any such deal goes through. The carrier claims there will be plenty of competition with four or five carriers in most areas. AT&T hasn’t helped themselves after it revealed it only needs to spend $3.8 billion to have 95% to 97% of coverage in the country with LTE.

T-Mobile and AT&T are expected to contest the lawsuit and will further lengthen the time the proposed takeover is dragged through the courts. We have already looked at what the failure of AT&Ts purchase of T-Mobile could mean for the carrier. There have been many T-Mobile customers who have voiced concerns about seeing their service provider getting snapped up by AT&T.

The longer it goes on the worse the situation could get for T-Mobile, whose German owners Deutsche Telekom are looking to sell the carrier and leave the US cell phone market. Do you think the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile is doomed to fail?